Oatmeal, part 1

I recently shared a devotional by Tim Merrill with some people in our church who are unable to attend worship.

In part of it he wrote —

We lived on the plains of Saskatchewan where the wheat grows fine in the
summer, and the winters are harsh. We didn’t have school buses in those days. We walked a mile or two and in the
winter, the snow crunched beneath our shoes. But our stomachs were full before we started off for school.

Do you know why? Because Mom gave us oatmeal for breakfast.

Robert A. Johnson has written about this, especially that part about “stirring the
oatmeal.” He says, “Many years ago a wise friend gave me a name for human
love. She called it “stirring-the-oatmeal” love. She was right. Within this phrase, if
we will humble ourselves enough to look, is the very essence of human love.”

He went on to say that stirring the oatmeal — something my mother did every
morning — is a mundane and humble act. It’s not exciting or thrilling. But somehow,
in the act of stirring the oatmeal, love comes down and is mediated to its recipients.

It is a simple act that symbolizes ordinary life. 

— I’ll ask you what I asked those people in our church here: Who stirs your oatmeal?

If possible, find a way today to thank that person/those people.

Who stirs your oatmeal?